The Riddling Reaver (book)
:For other uses of '''The Riddling Reaver', see'' The Riddling Reaver The Riddling Reaver is a multi-player role-playing gamebook written by Paul Mason, Steve Williams, and edited by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Brian Williams and Leo Hartas and originally published in 1986 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It was not part of the main Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, but rather one of the many spin-offs. As a role-playing gamebook, it is most closely associated with the book Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game in that it is an attempt to extend the Fighting Fantasy concept into a more developed role-playing system, in a basic form. As such, it is an unnumbered addition to the Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-032156-X), often grouped with Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game in book listings. There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the Scholastic series. Creation Background - Back Cover ("Adventure Gamebooks" Edition)}} ''The Riddling Reaver is a game designed to work with the basic rules of gameplay set out by Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game, working with a minimum of three players and a GamesMaster and a suggestion of "no more" than five players and a GamesMaster. The book requires the GamesMaster to have a copy of Fighting Fantasy and recommends having access to Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World and Out of the Pit for further information to enhance the gameplay. The adventure is divided into four "acts": Act One: ''The Curse of Kallamehr'' :The players travel south to Kallamehr where they discover Baron Bluestone engaged in a fight atop a tower inside the city. They arrive too late to save Bluestone, who is thrown off his own tower by none other than the Riddling Reaver. Strangely, the Reaver seems eager for the adventurers to follow him, since he leaves them a number of clues in a magic riddle box. In order to take up pursuit, the characters must solve the riddles, gather a few items, and cast them into the sea near Kallamehr. Act Two: ''Voyage of Enigma'' :Following the conclusion of Act One, a magic ship, the Twice Shy, arrives to take the heroes to their destination. But once aboard the strange ship, the heroes discover that the voyage will not be a pleasure cruise: the Twice Shy is teeming with monsters, spirits, and various traps, tricks and more riddles of the Reaver's devising. Act Three: ''The Pendulum of Fate'' :The heroes have arrived at their preliminary destination, a beach somewhere in the southern jungles of Allansia. They are required to save the life of an explorer named Waxley, who possesses the knowledge of how to get to a mysterious shrine in which an artefact of great power is kept. After a hazardous journey through the jungle, the adventurers enter the shrine, only to find that it is actually an ancient creature waiting for sacrifices to willingly (or unknowingly) enter its guts; the artefact, the Pendulum of Fate, is hidden in the very heart of the creature. But unfortunately, the Riddling Reaver makes yet another appearance and steals the Pendulum to enact his plans to upset the balance between Order and Chaos. Act Four: ''The Realm of Entropy'' :The heroes must chase after the Reaver to stop him from employing the Pendulum for his own dastard designs. Fortunately, his abode is nearby, but un''fortunately, this place is not like any other villain hideout they have come across: Chance rules supreme here; strange traps and hazards await them, and above all, an ever-increasing army of Replicanths created by the Reaver pose a serious threat to their mission. The heroes must rely on their wits and luck more than ever to save the world from destruction. Rules The book in general follows the original rules set down in ''Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game. Unique Rules *Unconsciousness is introduced where if a player's stamina score has been reduced to 0 they have been rendered unconscious rather than dead (a reduction to -1 or lower however counts as death). A dice roll (2d6) then determines how many minutes the player is unconscious. - pg.13-14 *Weapons creates differentiation between the damage various weapons can inflict and skill penalties for hard-to-use weapons such as a Morning Star or Two-Handed Sword. - pg.14-16 *Mighty Strike means a roll of double six results in a mortal blow to an opponent. - pg.16 *Magic allows one of the players to be a wizard. This comes at a cost of playing with the minimum stamina score of 14. The player is further penalised with a skill roll of 1d6 + 4. They however have the statistic of magic (2d6 + 6) which determines the number of spells available to the player. The spell list is the same as from ''The Citadel of Chaos'': Creature Copy, ESP, Fire, Fool's Gold, Illusion, Levitation, luck, Shielding, skill, stamina, strength, and Weakness. - pg.16-21 Equipment List - pg.11 *Sword *Backpack *Rope *10 Provisions Unlike the previous book the players are not equipped with potions. Cover and Illustrations Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones. Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Brian Williams. Unlike the regular gamebooks, due to the smaller than usual number of references there is a larger number of full-page illustrations with roughly one per entry. There were 50 full page illustrations (not counting maps) and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The colour map on the inside front cover and the interior black and white maps were by Leo Hartas. These black and white maps are to be found on pages: 26, 46, 72, 122, 152, 178 and 212. Intertextual References The Riddling Reaver, Lady Carolina and Kallamehr would feature in Slaves of the Abyss, written by Mason and Williams and published in 1988. The Reaver reappears later in Mason's solo gamebooks Magehunter and The Crimson Tide. Prequel A prequel exists in the form of The Dreaming Sands, a short multi-player adventure published in Issue 13 of Warlock magazine in which the Reaver also appears. Other Media Main Characters *Baron Bluestone *Cona Nundrum *Bhorriz *Lady Carolina Bluestone *Dappa - disciple of Hammet the Dash *Finnegan O'Dinnegan - Leprechaun *Hammet the Dash - Wizard *Ignatius Galapagos - Merchant *The Riddling Reaver Locations *Agra *Alkemis *Bay of Storms *The Bath House of Kallamehr *Bei-Han *Belew Mews *Brion's Bluff *Brion's Gate *Dolphin Alley *Frantz Walk *Grand Gate *Gulf of Shamuz *Icon Street *Kallamehr *Mehr Gate *Mountains of Grief *Nautical Academy of Kallamehr *Pariah Way *''Parrot in a Cage'' *Plain of Bones *Rangor Tower *Reaver's Retreat *Rimon *River Vymorn *Sallakesh Street *Shrine of Destiny *Silur Cha *Square of Patriarchs *Statue of Justice *Swamplands of Silur Cha *The Brine Road *''The Flesh and Pen Emporium'' *The Glimmering Sea *The Snakelands *The Street of Salt and Spray *The Way of Flint *The Way of the Rat *The Way of Thieves *Vymorna Encounters *Babi Lai *Ball Centipedes *Chimera *Devlin *Electric Eels *Eye Stingers *Fire Demon *Flock of Bats *Giant Dragonfly *Giant Frog *Giant Pitcher-Plant *Giant Spike Spider *Giant Snake *Giant Spider *Giant Squid *Great Apes *Grinding Balls *Head-Hunters - Pygmies/Regular/Shaman *Humans - Cut-Throat/Guards/Press-Gang Heavies/Street Gang Members/Thugs *Icon *Imitator *Jaguars *Jib-Jib *Krell *Largo the Swift *Lizard Men *Manikin *Marsh Wraiths *Mechanical Armour *Metal Sentinel *Miniature Silver Dragon *Minotaur *Mouse *Mucalytic *Mutant Lizard Men *Plague Zombies *Plesiosaurus *Poltergeist *Purple Hair *Replicanths *Sea Giant *Shark *Storm Spirits *Stuffed Riddling Reaver *Stuffed Sailors *Swarm of Flies *Tarantulas *Wheelies *Wrapper Further Notes *The Reaver's alias of "Cona Numdrum" is a play on the word "conundrum". Errors Dedication To Carolina and my feet (without whom I would have been unable to get up in the morning) - pg.4 See Also External Links References Category:1986 books Category:Fighting Fantasy Series